Ability of intracamerally inoculated B- and T-cell enriched allogeneic lymphocytes to enhance corneal allograft survival.

Injection of an antigen into the anterior chamber induces an immune response in which antibody production is normal while delayed hypersensitivity reactivity is depressed. Several antigens have been used to induce this response which has been termed anterior chamber associated immune deviation. We have demonstrated that allogeneic lymphocytes injected into the anterior chamber of Lewis rats increase the success rate of subsequent corneal grafts derived from the lymphocyte donor strain. To begin understanding the antigenic requirements of this phenomenon, Wistar/Furth lymphocytes were partially purified into B- and T-cell populations by panning on anti-immunoglobulin coated petri-dishes. These enriched populations were injected separately into the anterior chamber of Lewis rats. Two weeks later these Lewis rats received a full-thickness corneal graft derived from Wistar/Furth donors. Grafts were scored for opacity and neovascularization over the subsequent 8-10 weeks. In control animals injected with balanced salt solution, 20% of the grafts cleared sufficiently to be judged successful. Grafts placed on rats injected with unseparated splenic lymphocytes were judged successful in 75% of the cases. Comparable percentages for grafts on animals injected with B-cell enriched and T-cell enriched populations were 85 and 50 respectively. These results suggest that B cells, which express both class I and class II major histocompatibility antigens are more efficient at inducing anterior chamber associated immune deviation than are T cells, the majority of which express only class I major histocompatibility antigens.